B.C. Climber is 23rd Canadian Up the Seven Summits

B.C. climber Chris Dare reached the summit of Everest last week and completed his journey to climb the highest peak on every continent. He is only the 23rd Canadian to complete the seven summits.

Dare was on one of the expeditions that had to wait in long lines while hundreds climbed up and down the world’s highest mountain. It’s a bad year for Everest, with at least 11 climbers dying and many others falling ill. Big media around the world have been questioning the governments and expedition organizers who’d let such a tragic year unfold. Dare was witness to much of that drama and one climber in his guided group, Kevin Hynes from Ireland, died in his tent.

To save time, Dare didn’t take a photo from the summit and spent only a few minutes at the top of the world before turning around. They were hit with temps as low as -50 C. “I was literally pushed to the brink of death,” Dare told CBC in an interview here. “And I’m not lying about that. Every mountain I go to, they’re always difficult. But Everest … it turned out to be a different beast.”

Dare has been working on completing the seven summit for the past decade and completed the Messner version of the list. Yes, there are two lists of seven summits: the Bass and Messner. And there’s a list of the nine summits, which includes the peaks on the Bass and Messner lists (difference being Carstensz Pyramid on Messner and Kosciuszko on Bass) plus Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

In 1986, the Canadian Pat Morrow became the first to climb the seven summits in the Carstensz version (Messner list). He climbed Denali (1977), Aconcagua (1981), Everest (1982), Kilimanjaro (1983), Kosciuszko (1983), Vinson (1985), Elbrus (1985) and finally the Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) on May 7, 1986. Morrow was also the first to complete both lists (Bass and Messner).

In November 2013, Canadian Werner Berger became the older to complete the list at the age of 76 years and 129 days. Earlier this year, Mike Mulrooney became the first Canadian from the Maritimes to complete the list.

Chris Dare’s Summits

Africa: Kilimanjaro 5,895m in January 2010
Europe: Elbrus 5,642m in July 2010
North America: Denali 6,194m in June 2012
South America: Aconcagua 6,962m in Decemeber 2012
Oceania: Carstensz Pyramid 4,884m in 2013
Antarctica: Vinson 4,892m in December 2016
Asia: Everest 8,848m in May 2019